In honor of finals week approaching and me having quite the busy week, this will be slightly shorter than normal, but I do have the World Cup groups with some (far too early) predictions!!!
Game(s) of the Week (Rankings from Poll)
14:45 ET Saturday
(11) Juventus v (4) Inter Milan
Inter Milan leads Serie A by 7 points over AC Milan, and Juventus is one back of AC. Inter is coming off of a win at home against Fiorentina, where they played in mediocre fashion. Juventus is coming off of two straight 2-0 losses, a bad one at Cagliari and a loss against a very good Bordeaux squad over a week ago. Both teams have vital Champions League games in the week after this, when Inter hosts FK Rubin Kazan and Juventus hosts Bayern Munich, both teams needing points to ensure they move on. Hopefully the teams won’t be looking ahead too much.
Other Matches Between Ranked Teams
12:30 ET Saturday
(19) Manchester City v (T1) Chelsea
Manchester City will be hard-pressed to end their 7 game draw streak with a win here. In fact, they should be happy to continue the streak and get a point against a red-hot Drogba and company squad.
Top of the Table Clashes
None by the looks of it.
English Premier League
7:45 ET Saturday
Portsmouth v Burnley
10:00 ET Saturday
(T7) Arsenal v Stoke City
Aston Villa v Hull City
Blackburn Rovers v Liverpool
West Ham United v (3) Manchester United
Wigan v Birmingham City
WolverhamptonWanderers v Bolton Wanderers
12:30 ET Saturday
(19) Manchester City v (T1) Chelsea
10:00 ET Saturday
Fulham v Sunderland
11:00 ET Sunday
Everton v (10) Tottenham Hotspur
Scottish Premier League
7:30 ET Saturday
Falkirk v Rangers
10:00 ET Saturday
Celtic v Aberdeen
Spain’s La Liga
12:00 ET Saturday
(9) Sevilla FC v Valladolid
Xerez v Atletico Madrid
14:00 ET Saturday
(T5) Real Madrid v Almeria
16:00 ET Saturday
Deportivo La Coruna v (T1) Barcelona
15:00 ET Sunday
Athletic Bilbao v (18) Valencia
Italy’s Serie A
12:00 ET Saturday
(T5) AC Milan v Sampdoria
14:45 ET Saturday
(11) Juventus v (4) Inter Milan
9:00 ET Sunday
Genoa v Parma
(20) Fiorentina v Atalanta
Napoli v Bari
14:45 ET Sunday
AS Roma v Lazio
German Bundesliga
14:30 ET Friday
Bayern Munich v Borussia Monchengladbach
9:30 ET Saturday
Hamburg SV v TSG Hoffenheim
Hannover 96 v (T7) Bayer Leverkusen
VfL Wolfsburg v SC Freiburg
9:30 ET Sunday
FC Cologne v (T14) Werder Bremen
11:30 ET Sunday
(T21) Schalke 04 v Hertha Berlin
French Ligue 1
13:00 ET Saturday
Nice v Marseille
Valenciennes v AS Monaco
15:00 ET Saturday
(12) Bordeaux v Paris Saint-Germain
11:00 ET Sunday
AJ Auxerre v AS Nancy Lorraine
15:00 ET Sunday
Lille v (17) Lyon
Dutch Eredivisie
14:45 ET Friday
AZ Alkmaar v Vitesse Arnhem
6:30 ET Sunday
FC Utrecht v (16) Ajax Amsterdam
8:30 ET Sunday
RKC Wallwijk v (T21) PSV Eindhoven
10:30 ET Sunday
NEC Nijmegen v (T14) Twente Enschede
SC Heracles Almelo v Heerenveen
Portuguese Liga
15:15 ET Friday
Guimaraes v FC Porto
16:15 ET Saturday
Leixoes v (25) Braga
15:15 ET Sunday
Benfica v Academica de Coimbra
Turkish Super League
13:00 ET Friday
Besiktas v Diyarbakirspor
13:00 ET Saturday
Eskisehirspor K v Fenerbahce
13:00 ET Sunday
Galatasaray v Istanbul BB
Belgian Juliper League
14:00 ET Saturday
Standard Liege v Germinal Beerschot
14:30 ET Sunday
Cercle Brugge KSV v Anderlecht
Austrian Bundesliga
9:30 ET Sunday
SK Sturm Graz v SV Salzburg
12:00 ET Sunday
SV Josko Ried v Austria Vienna
Greek Super League
12:00 ET Saturday
FC Xanthi v Olympiakos
9:45 ET Sunday
Panathinaikos v Atromitos
Group A
South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France
The hosts have moved onto the knockout stages in every World Cup in history, but then again the hosts are generally good at soccer. Still, South Africa played impressively in the Confederations Cup on home soil and has a chance to give their group-mates a run for their money.
France and Mexico to advance. No handballs this time.
Group B
Argentina, South Korea, Nigeria, Greece
A decent draw for Argentina, as was the draw for nearly every seeded team in this Cup. Greece squeaked into the Finals in the playoff against Ukraine, as did Nigeria, who qualified on the final match-day. Nigeria starts off with a match against Argentina, but if they can keep their heads up in case of defeat, they can come back and move on in their home continent.
Argentina and Nigeria to advance.
Group C
England, USA!!!!, Algeria, Slovenia
I have to be honest, after USA did not draw South Africa, I was hoping we would have a chance to take on England. Obviously any non-SA seeded team is going to be difficult but England is not a terrible match-up, and we were drawn with two other beatable teams. I cannot wait for June 12, 2010 at 1:30 CT, when USA plays England in the first match-up in this group.
England and USA to move on, no matter the result of the first match I think Algeria and Slovenia are beatable for both squads.
Group D
Germany, Australia, Ghana, Serbia
This is a very strong group. Australia had a lot of fun in Germany for the last World Cup, and Germany and Serbia are very good European sides that both won their qualification groups. As with all African teams, Ghana will probably play a bit better as they are on their home continent.
Germany and Ghana to advance.
Group E
Netherlands, Japan, Cameroon, Denmark
I enjoy this group a lot. I love watching Dutch football and I am a quarter Danish so I will be pulling for both European teams here. Cameroon will be an interesting team to watch as well, as they missed out on the last World Cup and will want to make up for lost time. Samuel Eto’o is a dangerous striker and the other sides will have to watch out for him.
Netherlands and Denmark to advance.
Group F
Italy, New Zealand, Paraguay, Slovakia
New Zealand will just be enjoying the ride, while I think Paraguay and Slovakia will fight it out for the right to join Italy in the knockout stages. The defending champions are aging, but they are still the team to beat in the group.
Italy and Paraguay to advance
Group G
Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal
This is without question the only group worthy of the “Group of Death” tag. Portugal is ranked 5th in the world, which is an inflated ranking due to the fact that they had the opportunity to play extra qualification matches (a reason why FIFA did not use the most recent rankings). Still, they are obviously an immensely exciting team to watch with one of the best players in the world, Christiano Ronaldo. He will look to be healthy and be on form for Portugal for once. Before the draw, Ivory Coast was the trendy sleeper pick for the Finals, and they will be devastated with the draw that has been handed to them. Still, I think that if Drogba continues his incredible run of form this year, they will prevail in the group.
Brazil and Ivory Coast to advance.
Group H
Spain, Honduras, Chile, Switzerland
Spain is handed a good draw, a fact that their coach acknowledged after the draw. Chile will be happy to even be participating following a near-ban when a Chilean club team threatened to sue the Chilean Football Association. Switzerland made it to the World Cup by way of a fairly easy qualification group of them, Greece, Latvia, Israel, Luxembourg, Moldova.
Spain and Honduras to advance.
Showing posts with label World Cup 2010. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World Cup 2010. Show all posts
Friday, December 4, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Ireland Got Robbed.
As many of you may know, as it has been unsurprisingly huge news, Ireland got robbed of a possible spot in the World Cup yesterday. The playoff was tied on aggregate 1-1 and the second leg was in extra time in France. Fiorent Malouda plays a ball to a clearly offside Thierry Henry in the 104th minute. Henry, in an attempt to keep the ball in play on the end line, deflects it from his hand onto his foot to the head of William Gallas who sheepishly put it into the net for the goal that undeservedly sent France to the World Cup.
For all of yesterday I was absolutey furious about this. I have never been a big Thierry Henry fan since his days with Arsenal and I am more or less indifferent towards the French national team. On top of that I am half Irish so of course I want to see them get to a World Cup as they have only made three in their history, last in 2002. Still, I have had a day to cool down and now I can think about this logically.
First, we can look at the play itself. It is a common occurrence for a player to be offsides and Henry should rightfully play on if it is not called. In fact, there is a chance (a very small chance) that Henry knew he was off and handled it because he figured it would get called back anyways. In either case, Henry claims it was "accidental" and "instinctual" for him to handle it and keep it in play. If we give Henry the benefit of the doubt on this, it's fine for him to have done what he did. Ultimately it falls on the referees and linesmen to get the call right, and they simply did not. Some people foolishly have suggested Gallas should not have put the ball in the goal. Gallas looked sheepish as he did it and was probably thinking like the rest of the world, thinking that Henry's handball would get called and there'd be no goal. Gallas cannot be faulted for putting the ball into the net. All in all, it is hard to put blame on France for the travesty. 99% of the time it would get called back and there would be no argument on their part about it.
So, the blame lands squarely on the shoulders of the referee and linesman. Swedish referee Martin Hansson confidently told the Irish as he walked off the pitch, "There was no handball." My response to this is that he's an idiot. The play was not a hard one to follow and there seemed to be no obvious blockage of the official by other players. Blame is placed on his linesman as well, who should be virtually on the end line and have a perfect view of the play. When it comes down to it, UEFA President Michel Platini will point to this as the perfect reason as to why there should be officials behind each goal, and frankly, he has a point now. However, you will never see him place any blame on the officials in this instance.
Platini is a Frenchman and FIFA President Sepp Blatter has already been criticized for protecting the big nations in this World Cup Qualifying. The puzzling decision was made late in qualifying to seed the 8 teams that would participate in the UEFA playoff. This meant that big guns such as Portugal and France did not meet up, which would have deprived the World Cup of considerable star power. It would be outrageous to suggest that there is some kind of conspiracy theory behind the World Cup, but it would be equally outrageous to suggest that this game should be forced into a replay. There is an incredibly remote possibility that it happens, as a Bahrain-Uzbekistan World Cup playoff was replayed back in 2005, but no doubt France would have to agree to the replay, which is a long shot. Even so, it is a replay that would likely be opposed by both Platini and Blatter for a multitude of reasons.
Hopefully from this dark day in football can come some light. Whether it be Platini's extra officials goalside, or some kind of review system that somehow does not slow down play, changes must be made. We see replay all over American sports and it is time for Europe and the rest of the world to utilize this technology. My best suggestion for replay is to have an extra official in a booth that reviews the game as it happens. On clear-cut cases such as handballs, goals, maybe offsides, etc., that a referee misses (and that leads directly to a goal), the play will be reviewed in the booth and if it is found that it was a missed call, the official can buzz the referee who can stop play and return it back to the goalie for a goal kick. It is hard to imagine this happening in international football, but it would be a much better result than what happened in France yesterday.
For all of yesterday I was absolutey furious about this. I have never been a big Thierry Henry fan since his days with Arsenal and I am more or less indifferent towards the French national team. On top of that I am half Irish so of course I want to see them get to a World Cup as they have only made three in their history, last in 2002. Still, I have had a day to cool down and now I can think about this logically.
First, we can look at the play itself. It is a common occurrence for a player to be offsides and Henry should rightfully play on if it is not called. In fact, there is a chance (a very small chance) that Henry knew he was off and handled it because he figured it would get called back anyways. In either case, Henry claims it was "accidental" and "instinctual" for him to handle it and keep it in play. If we give Henry the benefit of the doubt on this, it's fine for him to have done what he did. Ultimately it falls on the referees and linesmen to get the call right, and they simply did not. Some people foolishly have suggested Gallas should not have put the ball in the goal. Gallas looked sheepish as he did it and was probably thinking like the rest of the world, thinking that Henry's handball would get called and there'd be no goal. Gallas cannot be faulted for putting the ball into the net. All in all, it is hard to put blame on France for the travesty. 99% of the time it would get called back and there would be no argument on their part about it.
So, the blame lands squarely on the shoulders of the referee and linesman. Swedish referee Martin Hansson confidently told the Irish as he walked off the pitch, "There was no handball." My response to this is that he's an idiot. The play was not a hard one to follow and there seemed to be no obvious blockage of the official by other players. Blame is placed on his linesman as well, who should be virtually on the end line and have a perfect view of the play. When it comes down to it, UEFA President Michel Platini will point to this as the perfect reason as to why there should be officials behind each goal, and frankly, he has a point now. However, you will never see him place any blame on the officials in this instance.
Platini is a Frenchman and FIFA President Sepp Blatter has already been criticized for protecting the big nations in this World Cup Qualifying. The puzzling decision was made late in qualifying to seed the 8 teams that would participate in the UEFA playoff. This meant that big guns such as Portugal and France did not meet up, which would have deprived the World Cup of considerable star power. It would be outrageous to suggest that there is some kind of conspiracy theory behind the World Cup, but it would be equally outrageous to suggest that this game should be forced into a replay. There is an incredibly remote possibility that it happens, as a Bahrain-Uzbekistan World Cup playoff was replayed back in 2005, but no doubt France would have to agree to the replay, which is a long shot. Even so, it is a replay that would likely be opposed by both Platini and Blatter for a multitude of reasons.
Hopefully from this dark day in football can come some light. Whether it be Platini's extra officials goalside, or some kind of review system that somehow does not slow down play, changes must be made. We see replay all over American sports and it is time for Europe and the rest of the world to utilize this technology. My best suggestion for replay is to have an extra official in a booth that reviews the game as it happens. On clear-cut cases such as handballs, goals, maybe offsides, etc., that a referee misses (and that leads directly to a goal), the play will be reviewed in the booth and if it is found that it was a missed call, the official can buzz the referee who can stop play and return it back to the goalie for a goal kick. It is hard to imagine this happening in international football, but it would be a much better result than what happened in France yesterday.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
World Cup Qualifying Progresses
23 of the 32 teams that will be participating in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa next summer have punched their tickets, with 9 spots up for grabs in key match-ups in mid-November. Here are the teams that have already qualified:
The remaining 9 spots will be decided by playoffs and the final group stage games in Africa. The playoffs are as follows:
UEFA
The teams from Pot A (higher ranked teams) will be randomly drawn against the teams from Pot B (lower ranked teams), and will play home and away legs on November 14 and 18. The decision to rank teams in this manner instead of in a free draw has drawn some criticism, as it seems as if FIFA wants to protect its big name teams (and players, namely Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo) to ensure there is enough public interest in the tournament. Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given was particularly upset, claiming, “"Had they stated the rules from day one then that would have been fair on everyone. We deserved to finish second, Russia and Portugal deserved to finish second, so I do not see how it should be different for them and for us. You would just like to think it would be fair for everyone. Why should these teams get preferential treatment? It should be the same for everyone." Still, the playoffs will offer some of the biggest drama the football world will see until the World Cup Finals come around next June.
AFC/Oceania
Bahrain and New Zealand have played the first leg of their two-legged playoff, a 0-0 draw in Bahrain, and the second leg is to come November 14 at Westpac Stadium in Wellington, New Zealand. A draw of one or more goals sends Bahrain to its first World Cup in the country’s history via the away goals rule, while a New Zealand win on home soil would send it to its first World Cup since 1982, where they went winless and got outscored 12-2 in three matches. Though neither team will be expected to make much noise next summer, this will still be a racket of a match, with national glory on the line.
CONMEBOL/CONCACAF
In two of the more dramatic regions, a spot in the World Cup will come down to a two-legged playoff between Uruguay and Costa Rica, to be played in Costa Rica on November 14 and Uruguay on November 18. Argentina came within 4 points of needing to qualify via this playoff, needing a 1-0 win at Uruguay on the final match-day of qualifying to help ensure their spot in South Africa. On that same day, Costa Rica was within minutes of qualifying automatically, until a stunning Jonathan Bornstein goal in the 5th minute of extra time gave the USA a draw, and took away two essential points from Costa Rica, sending Honduras to South Africa. These are two fantastic teams with fantastic fan bases that are more passionate about football than anything else.
CAF
In group A, Cameroon leads Gabon 10 points to 9 with one match left each, with Cameroon traveling to Morocco and Gabon traveling to Togo on November 14. Both teams should be favorites to win their respective games, which would ensure Samuel Eto’o and Cameroon a spot in the World Cup.
In Group B, Tunisia leads Nigeria 11 points to 9. The teams are even on goal differential, so a Nigeria win at Kenya and Tunisia draw at Mozambique would send Nigeria to the World Cup. For Tunisia, it is win and you’re in.
In Group C, Algeria leads Egypt 13 points to 10, with the colossal match-up of Algeria at Egypt to come on November 14. Algeria has a +7 GD while Egypt is a +3, so Egypt needs at least 2 goal win. This would give both teams a +5 GD and 9 goals scored. In this case, the group winner and South Africa-bound team would be decided by a random draw or playoff (I hope to God it’s a playoff…). If Egypt wins by more than 3 goals, they are in the World Cup.
Surprise Teams Left Out
Croatia: Highest ranked team in the FIFA World Rankings that will not make it, at 9th.
Czech Republic: A Czech tabloid offered European minnows San Marino a large sum of money if they were to beat Slovenia, which would have allowed the Czechs a chance at qualifying. However, San Marino lost 3-0, wrapping up their qualifying campaign with an 0-0-10 record, getting outscored 47-1.
Bulgaria: The fighting Dimitar Berbatovs finished third behind Italy and Ireland in their group.
6th ranked Russia and 10th ranked France will both be involved in nerve-wracking qualifiers to make it to South Africa.
| UEFA (Europe) | AFC (Asia) |
| Denmark | Australia |
| England | Japan |
| Germany | North Korea |
| Italy | South Korea |
| Netherlands | CONMEBOL (South America) |
| Serbia | Argentina |
| Slovakia | Brazil |
| Spain | Chile |
| Switzerland | Paraguay |
| CONCACAF (North America) | CAF (Africa) |
| Honduras | Ghana |
| Mexico | Ivory Coast |
| USA | South Africa (host nation) |
The remaining 9 spots will be decided by playoffs and the final group stage games in Africa. The playoffs are as follows:
UEFA
| Pot A | Pot B |
| France Greece Portugal Russia | Bosnia and Herzegovina Republic of Ireland Slovenia Ukraine |
The teams from Pot A (higher ranked teams) will be randomly drawn against the teams from Pot B (lower ranked teams), and will play home and away legs on November 14 and 18. The decision to rank teams in this manner instead of in a free draw has drawn some criticism, as it seems as if FIFA wants to protect its big name teams (and players, namely Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo) to ensure there is enough public interest in the tournament. Ireland goalkeeper Shay Given was particularly upset, claiming, “"Had they stated the rules from day one then that would have been fair on everyone. We deserved to finish second, Russia and Portugal deserved to finish second, so I do not see how it should be different for them and for us. You would just like to think it would be fair for everyone. Why should these teams get preferential treatment? It should be the same for everyone." Still, the playoffs will offer some of the biggest drama the football world will see until the World Cup Finals come around next June.
AFC/Oceania
Bahrain and New Zealand have played the first leg of their two-legged playoff, a 0-0 draw in Bahrain, and the second leg is to come November 14 at Westpac Stadium in Wellington, New Zealand. A draw of one or more goals sends Bahrain to its first World Cup in the country’s history via the away goals rule, while a New Zealand win on home soil would send it to its first World Cup since 1982, where they went winless and got outscored 12-2 in three matches. Though neither team will be expected to make much noise next summer, this will still be a racket of a match, with national glory on the line.
CONMEBOL/CONCACAF
In two of the more dramatic regions, a spot in the World Cup will come down to a two-legged playoff between Uruguay and Costa Rica, to be played in Costa Rica on November 14 and Uruguay on November 18. Argentina came within 4 points of needing to qualify via this playoff, needing a 1-0 win at Uruguay on the final match-day of qualifying to help ensure their spot in South Africa. On that same day, Costa Rica was within minutes of qualifying automatically, until a stunning Jonathan Bornstein goal in the 5th minute of extra time gave the USA a draw, and took away two essential points from Costa Rica, sending Honduras to South Africa. These are two fantastic teams with fantastic fan bases that are more passionate about football than anything else.
CAF
In group A, Cameroon leads Gabon 10 points to 9 with one match left each, with Cameroon traveling to Morocco and Gabon traveling to Togo on November 14. Both teams should be favorites to win their respective games, which would ensure Samuel Eto’o and Cameroon a spot in the World Cup.
In Group B, Tunisia leads Nigeria 11 points to 9. The teams are even on goal differential, so a Nigeria win at Kenya and Tunisia draw at Mozambique would send Nigeria to the World Cup. For Tunisia, it is win and you’re in.
In Group C, Algeria leads Egypt 13 points to 10, with the colossal match-up of Algeria at Egypt to come on November 14. Algeria has a +7 GD while Egypt is a +3, so Egypt needs at least 2 goal win. This would give both teams a +5 GD and 9 goals scored. In this case, the group winner and South Africa-bound team would be decided by a random draw or playoff (I hope to God it’s a playoff…). If Egypt wins by more than 3 goals, they are in the World Cup.
Surprise Teams Left Out
Croatia: Highest ranked team in the FIFA World Rankings that will not make it, at 9th.
Czech Republic: A Czech tabloid offered European minnows San Marino a large sum of money if they were to beat Slovenia, which would have allowed the Czechs a chance at qualifying. However, San Marino lost 3-0, wrapping up their qualifying campaign with an 0-0-10 record, getting outscored 47-1.
Bulgaria: The fighting Dimitar Berbatovs finished third behind Italy and Ireland in their group.
6th ranked Russia and 10th ranked France will both be involved in nerve-wracking qualifiers to make it to South Africa.
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